Midnight Letters
by A.J. Sparks
Summary: Harry, Ron and Hermione have to go back to Hogwarts to complete an eighth year. On their first day back at Hogwarts, things don't go quite so well, a girl is found dead just after the lights have gone out. Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven that it was.
1. Eighth Year

**A/N: This is post-Deathly Hallows. If you see anybody in here that the book mentioned died, they obviously didn't.**

**Dislaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, even though it would be nice to.**

**MIDNIGHT LETTERS**

CHAPTER ONE: EIGHTH YEAR

"I still don't know why we have to go back to Hogwarts for an eighth year! This is so unfair! We're turning into Muggles! They have twelve years of school! And now we have eight! I'm going to vomit and boycott!"

"It's protest."

"That!"

Hermione sighed, "Oh, Ronald. It's nothing big. And you and Harry are lucky that they let you guys skip the seventh year, I had to go back and complete it!"

"Well that was your own choice, Hermione."

"One year is _not_ going to kill you, Ronald."

"It might," Ron mumbled.

Ron began leaning into Hermione for a kiss, hoping that she might feel up to it, but she shoved him off and got up from the couch leaving Ron with his temporary boner.

"Just one kiss, 'mione." Ron called after her.

"You know, Ron, just because we're finally going out does not mean you have to be kissing me every second of the day!" she called back.

"But I'm," he looked down at his bulging erection, "I love you."

From the kitchen, Hermione shook her head and dug into a bag of Muggle chips, Doritos to be exact.

"That's not gonna work, Ronald. Besides, Harry said he was on his way."

"So?"

"So. How do you think he'd feel if he saw us kissing on the couch, practically making-out?"

"I don't care," Ron mumbled.

At that moment, the door swung open and a worn-looking Harry came in.

"Harry!" Hermione said as she charged toward Harry, embracing him in a giant hug.

"Lay off, Hermione. Let the man breathe." Ron said as he approached the pair.

"Alright, Harry?" Ron asked him.

"Fine. Just a rough day at the Ministry." he replied tiredly.

"Have they caught Bellatrix, yet?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"No. Nobody has spotted her yet. I'm guessing she's biding her time. But when we find her, I will kill her."

The room went quiet as Harry sat down and took off his shoes.

"Anyone hungry?" Hermione asked breaking the awkward silence that had fallen on them like a veil of thick fog.

But before anybody could answer, an owl flew in through the wall as if it were liquid and landed on the couch where Ron was sitting. Ron moved away, startled that it was something that might cause him harm, but he relaxed and took the letter from the owl's foot.

"What is it?" Hermione asked moving toward Ron.

"It's a letter from the Ministry to Harry."

Ron handed the letter to Harry and he began reading it. Immediately, his expression changed to a frown.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked him.

"It says that I am fired from the Ministry for assault on a victim." he read.

"You didn't assault anyone, right?" Ron asked.

"No. There has to be some mistake," Harry scanned for the owl but it was gone. "Where did that owl go?"

They searched the apartment but nobody seemed to unearth where the owl had gone.

"I think we should just accept that it's gone because if we spend any more time looking for that damned owl, the Hogwarts Express would've already gone," Hermione debated a few minutes after looking for the owl. "Now let's just get our bags, forget about the owl, and complete this last year of school before they decide to add a ninth."

"Hermione's right. We should just forget about it and deal with it later." Harry agreed.

"Yeah. I guess."

Hours later, they were in the Great Hall, anxiously waiting for the first years to get on with their Sorting. The chattering of kids could be heard reverberating off the stone walls and the mumbling of a great many eighth years filled the air.  
The great doors opened and the hall immediately fell silent as the first years were eagerly led by Hagrid down to where the teachers sat. The first years glanced nervously at the many faces that glanced at them.

Ronald could really care less about who was being sorted and moved to put his head down. But as he did, a first year caught his eye. He had blonde hair, and shocking green eyes. _Kinda looks a bit like Malfoy_. But what really caught his attention was that the boy seemed to be holding a blinding light in one of his hands and he soon realized that it was a _blade_!

"Hermione." Ron nudged her.

"What?" she asked distractedly.

"Did you see that kid?"

"What kid?"

"The one that looks like Malfoy."

"What about him?"

"Look at his hand."

"What am I looking for?"

"Don't you see it?"

"See what?"

"The knife. The kid is holding a knife!"

Hermione gave Ron a weird look. "Are you okay, Ron?"

Ron decided that he must've been imagining things and dismissed the idea, "I'm fine."

The Sorting seemed to pass quite slowly for Ronald as he thought about the kid. Only when Dumbledore rose to say his usual speech did he snap out of his reverie.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. Everyone waited eagerly for his speech to begin.

"Welcome students to another year at-"

The Great Hall went dark. Students began to whisper and grow terrified. Why had the lights gone off? The lights never go off here at Hogwarts. What's going on? Then, as suddenly as the lights when off, they came back on and relief flooded everyone.

A scream pierced the air and everyone looked in the direction of the Hufflepuff table, a girl was screaming as were others around her as she pointed to a bloody mess next to her. A girl lay in pieces next to her, skull sawed cleanly off and her upper body cut off from her lower. It was a horrible sight, organs and intestines spewed the floor, blood and other guts splattering the table and the surrounding students. Alarm rang through the Great Hall and, at once, the students began to find a way out of the Great Hall, chaos reigned.

"Look." pointed a Ravenclaw at the nearest wall.

Everyone looked in that direction and what met their eyes was most disturbing. In bright red blood, the victim's blood, was the message: "And then at midnight, the reaper came, to the one he had marked with a letter. Perish all you unworthy vermin!"

This was enough to scare even the Slytherins, as fast as before, even faster, people began scrambling for an exit, hoping to escape the same fate as the Hufflepuff girl.

"STOP!" yelled Dumbledore. Everyone froze where they were and looked at Dumbledore. "Teachers, please escort your house back to their common rooms and then I want all teachers to meet me in my office in fifteen minutes. Mr. Filch, will you and Professor Hagrid contact the Ministry and explain what has happened here." Filch went on his way, positively scared.

"So you're going to do nothing?" the new blond-haired-boy asked Dumbledore.

"I beg your pardon Mr. Acton-Hazard?"

"Why are you just standing there and giving out orders instead of taking action yourself and setting up defenses for this school. The killer could quite possibly still be lingering."

Dumbledore stood quiet for a moment before he said, "Professor Snape, might I ask you to please escort Mr. Acton-Hazard to my office and wait there."

"Certainly, Headmaster. Boy, come." Pravus Acton-Hazard ran up to Snape and they walked together silently to Dumbledore's office. Minerva, Pomona, Horace and Filius gathered their houses and escorted them to their common rooms. Dumbledore was left alone in the Great Hall thinking about Pravus's 'outburst'.

In the shadows behind Dumbledore something moved and walked up to him. She put a hand on his shoulder, which startled him and he turned around to face Sybill Trelawney. Here eyes were a pale white and her voice was hoarse and scratchy.

"Dark times lie ahead of the world, both magical and non-magical. A dark force will arise and terrorize the world, a much greater foe than the Dark Lord..."

"Sybill!" Dumbledore cried when he saw her face contort to that of a demonic spirit and back to her own. He shook her but was unable to take her out of her reverie then, she let out a loud and painful but demonic cry and slumped down to the floor, Dumbledore supporting her.

**I'm not so sure that was good or anything so please leave a review and tell me if it sucked and if I should continue, or any constructive criticism. :)**


	2. Never a Normal Year

**A/N: This is post-Deathly Hallows. If you see anybody in here that the book mentioned died, they obviously didn't.**

**Dislaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, even though it would be nice to.**

**MIDNIGHT LETTERS**

CHAPTER TWO: NEVER A NORMAL YEAR

Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't talk at all no the way from the Great Hall to the dormitory. Each was too absorbed in their own thoughts about that evening's events.

Once everyone was inside the common room, Professor McGonagall addressed all the Gryffindor students, "Now, as you all have just witnessed, a murder has taken place tonight and the murderer left a message in blood. I must ask you all to assume the bravery of the house of Gryffindor and try not to panic, remain clam. The staff is taking measures to ensure the safety of our students. Furthermore, as a safety precaution, all students will remain locked in their respective common rooms until a full search and interrogation of each student is done."

She paused for a while then said, "I've just been informed that the Aurors from the Ministry have arrived along with a new battalion of Dementors. Nine Aurors will be stationed at the entrance of each common room. The rest will patrol the halls and grounds along with the Dementors."

"Dementors are going to be in here?" Hermione asked.

"Is that a problem Ms. Granger?" McGonagall asked.

"No ma'am, it's just that Dumbledore, it's unlike him to admit Dementors into the school."

"Yes but in light of recent events, he must. Student safety is our top priority and tonight a student has been murdered. Any more questions?"

Nobody said a thing.

"Very good. That is all. Have a good night." she said before exiting.

The entire house was speechless.

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"So who do you think did that?" Ron asked Harry and Hermione as they sat on their favorite sofa beside the fireplace.

"Well it obviously had to be someone inside the castle, nobody could've gained entrance to the grounds without special permission from Dumbledore himself. There's spells and-"

"Are you really going to keep on believing that?" Harry interrupted.

"What?" Hermione said.

"This isn't the first time someone's breached the castle. Remember first year? Voldemort himself made it in without detection and-"

"Yes, Harry but those were different circumstances-"

"Different circumstances?! What about sixth year? When Draco came in with all his cronies and trashed the school, almost killing Dumbledore had it not been for Snape's intervention!"

"Harry..." Hermione began.

"And just last year Voldemort managed to break into the castle and launch a full scale war!"

Silence crept over them like a stealthy thief.

Harry spoke, "It's Bellatrix, she's behind this. She wants to get revenge for her dead master."

"How can you know for sure? How can you be so sure it's Bellatrix?" Hermione reasoned.

"Well he does have a point there. It's a possibility isn't it?" Ron said, "I mean, she's still roaming free."

"Yeah," Harry said absentmindedly, "and why all the security? Back when the Chamber of Secrets was opened we didn't have as much security as now."

"Well that's because we were just petrified. We didn't die. And now tonight a girl has been killed. And what's worse, she was killed under the supervision of most of the teachers," Hermione said.

"Kids are going to start being taken out, aren't they?" Ron said. "Withdrawals, and on the first day. That's a record." He paused. "And do you guys notice that whenever something bad happens, we always seem to be around? We're bad luck, I'm telling you."

This was greeted by a round of laughter from Harry and Hermione.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dumbledore was sitting in his office, Pravus, teachers and a few Ministry officials around him.

An Auror, dressed in full violet robes burst into the room and addressed Kingsley, "Minister, my Aurors are set up inside the school and on the grounds. The Dementors have also been organized."

"Thank you, Talon. Join us," Kingsley conjured up a chair and Talon sat, joining their conference circle.

"Now-" Dumbledore began.

"Sir, shouldn't you bolt the door before beginning?" Pravus interrupted him.

Everyone looked at him, "Yes, very wise Mr. Hazard." Dumbledore flicked his wand. There was a swish and a loud crack.

"Now then. A student has been murdered here tonight. A Hufflepuff by the name of Hannah Abott. Now this hasn't happened at Hogwarts for more than fifty years, disregarding, of course, our loses last year. As to who committed the crime is still a mystery but the culprit did leave a clue as to what his intentions are-"

"What if it's a she?" Pravus said.

Once again all eyes turned on him.

"You're generalizing, a big mistake, anyone could've killed her."

"Pardon me, Mr. Hazard, but males are more likely to commit such atrocious tasks as that, excuse me gentlemen." McGonagall said.

"I'm sure you all remember a Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange?" Most people froze at the mention of her name. "She was-is a woman that doesn't care who she kills."

"Yes but that is one woman in many," Professor Flitwick said.

"Either way, a woman is as likely to commit such a crime as a man. Thank you, you've proved your point, Pravus." Dumbledore said.

Pravus couldn't help but smirk.

After a good while of discussion and countless interruptions on Pravus's behalf, Severus said, "Perhaps we should start with the searches, seeing as we are getting nowhere with this 'conference'?"

Everyone agreed and they began.

**I'm not so sure that was good or anything so please leave a review and tell me if it sucked or if I should continue, or any constructive criticism. :)**


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